History BlessedWithSuck / LiveActionTv

** The episode "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS06E09StatisticalProbabilities Statistical Probabilities]]" introduces us to a group of genetically engineered humans. Many have impressively boosted intellects, if not special powers. Unfortunately, they're also each mentally impaired in a unique way: one is a misanthropic sociopath, one is completely sexually uninhibited, one has the emotional maturity of a 5-year-old, and one has a mind that processes information at an incredible rate...but not the enhanced sensory inputs to match it, menaing she can't ''absorb'' information nearly as fast as she can process it, leading her to be so constantly under-stimulated that she's borderline catatonic (she at least is eventually able to be cured, as Bashir devises a way to speed up her sensory inputs to match her processing speed).

** The episode "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS06E09StatisticalProbabilities Statistical Probabilities]]" introduces us to a group of genetically engineered humans. Many have impressively boosted intellects, if not special powers. Unfortunately, they're also each mentally impaired in a unique way: one is a misanthropic sociopath, one is completely sexually uninhibited, one has the emotional maturity of a 5-year-old, and one has a mind that processes information at an incredible rate, but because her sensory input wasn't similarly enhanced, she can't ''absorb'' information nearly as fast as she can process it, leading her to be so constantly under-stimulated that she's borderline catatonic (Bashir is eventually able to help her by finding a way to speed up her sensory inputs to match her processing speed).

** The episode "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS06E09StatisticalProbabilities Statistical Probabilities]]" introduces us to a group of genetically engineered humans. Many have impressively boosted intellects, if not special powers. Unfortunately, they're also each mentally impaired in a unique way: one is a misanthropic sociopath, one is completely sexually uninhibited, one has the emotional maturity of a 5-year-old, and one's mind processes information so quickly that she cannot process sensory input and is practically catatonic.

* The Ocampa from ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' are one of the most powerful races in its history. Eventually once they reach the peak of their powers they're capable of pyrokinesis, telepathy, shape-shifting, reality bending... unfortunately the key word there was ''eventually.'' Before they reach the very unlikely outcome of this great power, they have to cope with possibly one of the suckiest examples of anatomy and society in TV history. They can only naturally live nine years -- which if you take into account their first year as children and last year as pensioners they really only have 7 years of decent life. Ocampa females can only reproduce ''once'' in their entire lives using a complicated system of mating that involves ''attaching their hands together for a week.'' Ocampans apparently don't even produce litters -- which for a race who can only reproduce once would be ''pretty damn essential.''[[note]]WordOfGod is that Ocampans do have twins and triplets relatively frequently, but with single births also occurring, even that is likely to be just enough to maintain population numbers ''at best'' (and that's assuming ''every single Ocampa'' has a child -- if a person chooses not to have children, or dies before they can, that further reduces the population).[[/note]] There are also only two known Ocampan societies -- one underneath a completely barren desert planet in enemy territory and the other on a space station commanded by an insane creature that was one half responsible for turning that aforementioned planet into a barely habitable rock.

* ''Series/Batman1966'': [[WickedCultured The Bookworm]] suffers from a bad case of this. He's an EvilGenius with PhotographicMemory and SuperSpeedReading skills, and boasts that he's studied every single novel ever written. The problem? He can't come up with any ''original'' ideas because his brain's so crowded with the books he's already read. As a result, he suffers from massive CreativeSterility; all of his crimes borrow from literature, and he's self-aware enough to know that he'll never be more than "a master of stolen plots"

* In ''Series/IronFist2017'', the Hand are able to bestow the gift of ResurrectiveImmortality to their most loyal followers, so that if they die (without being [[spoiler: decapitated or cremated]]) then they can come back to life. This does, however, have the downside of inflicting upon them a form of self-destructive curse, causing them to destroy that which they love the most in fits of sociopathic rage.
* ''Series/{{Jessica Jones| 2015}}'': Erik Gelden has the superpower of being able to sense the evil in people, which would make him an excellent crime fighter and agent of justice. The only problem is that the evil gives him a headache, and the greater the evil, the greater the pain. As a result, he spends most of his time drinking and gambling, the only distractions he can get from his near-constant pain.

* ''Series/Watchmen2019'': As with the original comic, [[DeityOfHumanOrigin Doctor Manhattan]]'s RealityWarper powers are ''insanely'' awesome. However, their very nature makes him a NonLinearCharacter who experiences his entire timeline simultaneously, meaning that he can ''never'' get away from traumatizing or painful events because they are ''always'' happening to him. At one point, he mentions to [[spoiler:Angela]] that because of his unique perspective on time, he is '''always''' [[AndIMustScream experiencing his body being painfully disintegrated in the intrinsic field generator in 1959]]. It also means that, for him, the future is fixed as long as it's observable: [[YouCantFightFate no surprises, no free will]]. These are all very good reasons for him to [[spoiler:seal away his memory and powers and live in a "tunnel of love" for ten years as "Calvin Jelani" with Angela]].

* The Ocampa from ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' are one of the most powerful races in its history. Eventually once they reach the peak of their powers they're capable of pyrokinesis, telepathy, shape-shifting, reality bending... unfortunately the key word there was ''eventually.'' Before they reach the very unlikely outcome of this great power, they have to cope with possibly one of the suckiest examples of anatomy and society in TV history. They can only naturally live nine years -- which if you take into account their first year as children and last year as pensioners they really only have 7 years of decent life. They can only reproduce ''once'' in their entire lives using a complicated system of mating that involves ''attaching their hands together for a week.'' Ocampans apparently don't even produce litters -- which for a race who can only reproduce once would be ''pretty damn essential.''[[note]]WordOfGod is that Ocampans do have twins and triplets relatively frequently, but even that is likely to be just enough to maintain population numbers ''at best''.[[/note]] There are also only two known Ocampan societies -- one underneath a completely barren desert planet in enemy territory and the other on a space station commanded by an insane creature that was one half responsible for turning that aforementioned planet into a barely habitable rock.

** One patient of the week had perfect recall stemming from a case of OCD, and it had essentially ruined her life. In her case, even the normal benefits of this recall were extremely limited because, as she herself explains, being able to ''remember'' something isn't the same as being able to ''understand'' it; without the additional skills she would need to actually ''use'' her memory to its full potential, it hasn't opened doors for her as one might expect and she's still working as a waitress. Meanwhile, she remembers ''every single bad thing'' that ever happened to her, and as such any kind of long-term relationships with people are essentially impossible for her because the memories of ''every single negative thing'' that ever happened between them will eventually build up to the point where they're too much to handle (even if the person never harmed her intentionally, even the memories of accidental or inadvertent things will add up). Initially the patient reasons that she's just being rational, adding up the good and bad of every relationship and cutting people off if the bad outweighs the good, but after her sister -- who she'd cut off years prior for this reason -- saves her life, which would seem to shift the balance in favor of the sister doing more good than bad, she finds that she ''still'' can't bear to be around her, forcing her to admit that the real problem is that just being in her sister's presence triggers too many negative memories.

* The Ocampa from ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' are one of the most powerful races in its history. Eventually once they reach the peak of their powers they're capable of pyrokinesis, telepathy, shape-shifting, reality bending... unfortunately the key word there was ''eventually.'' Before they reach the very unlikely outcome of this great power, they have to cope with possibly one of the suckiest examples of anatomy and society in TV history. They can only naturally live nine years -- which if you take into account their first year as children and last year as pensioners they really only have 7 years of decent life. They can only reproduce ''once'' in their entire lives using a complicated system of mating that involves ''attaching their hands together for a week.'' Ocampans apparently don't even produce litters -- which for a race who can only reproduce once would be ''pretty damn essential.'' There are also only two known Ocampan societies -- one underneath a completely barren desert planet in enemy territory and the other on a space station commanded by an insane creature that was one half responsible for turning that aforementioned planet into a barely habitable rock.

** One patient of the week had perfect recall stemming from a case of OCD. It had essentially ruined her life -- she remembered ''every single bad thing'' her sister had ever done to her, and, worse, because she remembered it, she could count all the bad things and compare them with the good things...and found out that her sister had hurt her more times than she'd helped her (which, them being kids when most of this happened, wasn't the sister's fault and was never on purpose, but still). Because of this, she cut off all ties with her sister, because she reasoned that her sister did her more harm than good, and couldn't bring herself to act happy around her sister no matter how hard she tried. Relationships with people were essentially impossible for her.

** [[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E18Earshot And then there's the time]] Buffy gains the ability to read minds, with [[AMindIsATerribleThingToRead less pleasant effects than she expects at first]].

** Drusilla gift of precognition sounds pretty cool, except it was what convinced Angelus that he wanted to torture and break her. It also results in stomach pains, fainting and knowing unpleasant things about the future that she can't change. It was actually a vision that Spike would fall in love with a Slayer which led her to become disenchanted with and leave him.

* Done to a particularly nerve wracking degree in ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}''. All good witches have some sort of supernatural power, a power that can be used to make life easier, right? Wrong! For those of the good alignment, personal gain is strictly forbidden, and abusing one's powers can have the potential of them being taken away. Evil is free to do whatever they want however.

* The mermaids on ''Series/H2OJustAddWater''. If you think about it, turning into a mermaid when you are exposed to water sucks major ass if you have to keep up The Masquerade. What happens if it's a rainy day, or if you have the power but live in [[UsefulNotes/TheOtherRainforest a really rainy area]]? What happens if it's summer and you and your non mermaid friends/family want to go swimming? What happens if you need to shower or wash your hands? What if you want to join the swim team or be a life guard? Remember when Rikki got hit full-on by a sprinkler when out and about? Maybe you could hide it for a short time, but not forever, and not without some kind of consequence.

** Likewise, Sylar realizes his latest target has the ability to ''always'' know when someone is lying to her. He says it must be great (especially as she works at a law firm) but she merely sighs "no, it isn't."
** In Season 2, we meet Maya and Alejandro. [[spoiler: Maya's ability is, essentially, to kill everyone within ten feet of her if she gets upset. She once kills a whole town when he power first manifests. At a wedding. Alejandro's ability somehow reverses this... sometimes.]] A few tropers have therefore dubbed them the "Blessed With Suck Twins".

** Hiro himself. In Season 1, he can handle freezing time okay -- but takes an insane amount of concentration or a good motivation, but he was unable to teleport WITHOUT [[TimeyWimeyBall accidentally travelling in time as well]].And we learn in Season 4 that [[spoiler: extensive time travel will give you a tumor. Arnold, Samuel's resident time-traveller, died from a tumor, and Hiro has a few months left to live.]]

** There's also the Vorta, once a timid ape-like species until one saved a changeling's life. The changeling promised to make the Vorta strong and powerful. Indeed, the Vorta are second only to the changelings in the Dominion and feared throughout the galaxy. But the founders [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished eliminated their free will]] and programmed them to [[SycophanticServant worship the founders unconditionally]] regardless of how horribly they're treated.

** Dean's totally immune to [[HorsemenOfTheApocalypse Famine]]'s hunger inducing powers which seems cool. Except that Famine points out it's due to the fact that Dean is so dead inside that no form of self-indulgence would fill the void.

** Captain Jack Harkness. He's immortal, giving him some wonderful WhoWantsToLiveForever issues as he watches every friend, lover and family member he has dies. And technically -- he can ''die'', he just comes back to life. Painfully. And while that's certainly useful, how would you like to be buried alive, suffocating to death and being pulled harshly back to life, for ''two-thousand years''?

* ''Series/TheUmbrellaAcademy2019'' has quite a few. Luther's super-strong and can easily take a missile to the back... but that's because [[spoiler:Reginald gave him a serum in order to save his life, and he became partially transformed into an ape]]. As a result, he has ''issues''. Allison can make everyone around her do whatever she wants, but that power is addictive and at multiple points she is shown to struggle with controlling herself ([[spoiler:the coffee incident]]). Klaus can summon the dead and make them corporeal to fight for him. He can't turn his powers off, and is constantly surrounded by screaming ghosts who have lost their humanity. Hence, he becomes a drug addict because the drugs dull his powers. Five can time travel, but not very well, and gets stuck or has other [[OlderThanTheyLook unpleasant consequences]]. Ben very likely died because of his powers. [[spoiler:Poor Vanya can't control hers at all in Season 1.]] Only Diego seems to have escaped the curse. [[spoiler:And Lila.]]

** Elena's even worse. Her only power is looking like the original Petrova. The only time that her power is useful at all is when she manages to use her supernatural status to kill Alaric who was already dying and activate his ring.

** Being a vampire hunter often involves collecting a giant pile of magical tools, the most handy of which is a ring that literally just makes you immune to death. Becoming a Vampire Hunter, with the important capital letters? Well, now you're a supernatural creature, and in exchange for slightly elevated strength and reflexes pretty much none of your tools work anymore...

* John from ''Series/NewAmsterdam2008'' saves the life of an Indian woman, who in return grants him eternal life and youth until he finds his soul mate, who he will know by feeling it in his heart. Unfortunately, this means he suffers a heart attack that would normally be fatal once he gets near her (That is if Sara really is his soul mate. Unfortunately the series was cancelled before we found out for sure).

* Jack Bauer of ''Series/TwentyFour'' could qualify despite not having a superpower (other than the power to be badass). He's an incredibly talented CTU agent, the best in the field, the go-to guy for every problem concerning National Security. At the cost of his family, friends and co-workers getting killed, being a wanted man by terrorists and foreign nations, and virtually having no chance at a normal life because when he tries, he always gets sucked back in.
-->'''James Heller:''' "You're cursed, Jack. Everything you touch, one way or another, winds up dead."

* Stephen Baxter, from Creator/RussellTDavies's ''Series/TheSecondComing'', who suddenly discovers that he's the son of God. He does seem rather happy with it at the beginning (if unbalanced), being able to perform miracles and suddenly getting huge crowds of followers. However, [[spoiler: it gets his best friend murdered, his father insane, and it turns out the whole plan is to have him killed by his lover so God can truly die and humans can take their fate in their own hands. He accepts it in the end, but [[TearJerker ouch.]]]]
* Jim Ellison from ''Series/TheSentinel''; super-enhanced senses sound really cool -- but when paprika tastes hotter than cayenne, or a common cold medication knocks you flat on your. . .behind, not so much.

** The episode "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS06E09StatisticalProbabilities Statistical Probabilities]]" introduces us to a group of genetically engineered humans. Many have impressively boosted intellects, if not special powers. Unfortunately, they're also each mentally impaired in a unique way: one is a misanthropic sociopath, one is completely sexually uninhibited, one has the emotional maturity of a 5-year-old, and one's mind processes information so quickly that they cannot process sensory input and are practically catatonic.

** "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS5E21ThePerfectMate The Perfect Mate]]" features a society which creates an empath designed to bond with and become the perfect mate for her husband. Sounds great, until it turns out that the guy she ends up bonding with is ''not'' the guy she has no choice but to marry. Oops.

* ''Series/TheUmbrellaAcademy'' has quite a few. Luther's super-strong and can easily take a missile to the back... but that's because [[spoiler: Reginald gave him a serum in order to save his life, and he became partially transformed into an ape]]. As a result, he has ''issues''. Allison can make everyone around her do whatever she wants, but that power is addictive and at multiple points she is shown to struggle with controlling herself ([[spoiler: The coffee incident.]]) Klaus can summon the dead and make them corporeal to fight for him. He can't turn his powers off, and is constantly surrounded by screaming ghosts who have lost their humanity. Hence, he becomes a drug addict because the drugs dull his powers. Five can time travel, but not very well, and gets stuck or has other [[OlderThanTheyLook unpleasant consequences]]. Ben very likely died because of his powers. [[spoiler: And poor Vanya can't control hers at all in Season 1.]] Only Diego seems to have escaped the curse. [[spoiler: And Lila.]]

* ''Series/Watchmen2019'': As with the original comic, [[DeityOfHumanOrigin Doctor Manhattan's]] RealityWarper powers are ''insanely'' awesome. However, their very nature makes him a NonLinearCharacter who experiences his entire timeline simultaneously, meaning that he can ''never'' get away from traumatizing or painful events because they are ''always'' happening to him. At one point, he mentions to [[spoiler:Angela]] that because of his unique perspective on time, he is '''always''' [[AndIMustScream experiencing his body being painfully disintegrated in the intrinsic field generator in 1959]]. It also means that, for him, the future is fixed as long as it's observable: [[YouCantFightFate no surprises, no free will]]. These are all very good reasons for him to [[spoiler:seal away his memory and powers and live in a "tunnel of love" for ten years as "Calvin Jelani" with Angela.]]

** A society which creates an empath designed to bond with and become the perfect mate for her husband. Sounds great, until it turns out that the guy she ended up bonding with is ''not'' the guy she has no choice but marry. Oops.

* The mermaids on ''Series/H2OJustAddWater''. If you think about it, turning into a mermaid when you are exposed to water sucks major ass if you have to keep up The Masquerade. What happens if it's a rainy day, or if you have the power but live in [[UsefulNotes/TheOtherRainforest a really rainy area]]? What happens if it's summer and you and your non mermaid friends/family want to go swimming? What happens if you need to shower or wash your hands? What if you want to join the swim team or be a life guard? Remember when the one girl got hit full-on by a sprinkler when out and about? Maybe you could hide it for a short time, but not forever, and not without some kind of consequence.
** Even their other 'water powers' aren't always great. Cleo, Rikki, and Emma could kill someone in seconds, as well as move, boil, or freeze water (respectively). And, um... what exactly can Bella do? Oh, right, make pretty statues and jello.

** Clyde Bruckman from "[[Recap/TheXFilesS03E04ClydeBruckmansFinalRepose Clyde Bruckman's Last Repose]]" has the power to see how people will die. It's vaguely useful for some tasks (especially since Bruckman works as an insurance salesman), but it makes him miserable. Not only is it often pretty disturbing, but he's never been able to ''prevent'' a death through his visions since nobody believes him. This leaves him with incredible guilt and depression. [[spoiler:In the end, it gets too much for him to bear and he commits suicide rather than continue seeing death everywhere he goes.]]

* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'': Jool has a [[MakeMeWannaShout scream]] that can melt metal. Where it really sucks for her is when other characters injure or scare her in situations where they'd find it useful. (It actually becomes helpful for ''her'' when she's in handcuffs.)